May – Newsletter 2018

May - Newsletter 2018

Our Mission
The mission of CLOSE Community is to collaboratively initiate, coordinate, and sustain prevention and intervention efforts that reduce and address youth substance use and the impact of substance use disorders within the Town of Longmeadow.

Opioids and Seniors
Join CLOSE Community and Dr. Al McKee (Medical Pain Management and Palliative Medicine Specialist from the Pain Management Center, Baystate Medical Center) for a free community education workshop that will discuss opioids, how they work, and how to manage prescription medications safely and responsibly for ourselves, our families, and our friends. *A light dessert will be served!

Never Without Naloxone

Join CLOSE Community at Rinaldi’s for a free community education workshop on recognizing, preventing, and reversing overdose.

Learn more about overdose prevention and community-based intervention, treatment, and recovery resources HERE.

CLOSE PSAs are live!

A special thanks to LCTV’s Bryon Kozaczka for producing a series of vdeo PSAs to help the community learn a bit more about the work of CLOSE Community. We’ll be rolling these out over the next month. Stay tuned on our social media platforms, links below!

CLOSE Blog Post is up!

This month’s CLOSE Blog post features Shelly Warren, MSW, LICSW. Shelly is the CLOSE Board President and the school district’s Substance Abuse Response Coordinator. Find out why Shelly got involved in CLOSE Community.

Thanks to all the families who tested their skills in identifying signs and clues for potential substance use at our mock teen bedroom display at Long Meddowe Days!

We’ve already trained more than 20 community members representing 9 of the 12 community sectors in Longmeadow in how to identify and prevent a fatal opioid overdose. Thanks to Tapestry, Rinaldi’s, and First Church for partnering!

CLOSE was proud to support this year’s “What is a Drug?” health and wellness lesson for every single Longmeadow 5th grader. The students were awesome!

First of all…congrats Brynn Cartelli! She’s an inspiring voice to represent young people in Longmeadow making healthy choices. And thanks to Brynn, we have the PERFECT spokesperson to kick off this year’s LHS Social Norms Campaign!